Bear Digest

One Reported Bears Coaching Candidate Is a Personnel Executive

Although David Shaw is a personnel executive with Denver, he was Stanford head coach for 12 seasons and a report says the Bears want permission to interview him.

Gene Chamberlain

Former Stanford coach David Shaw and receiver Elijah Higgins celebrate after a touchdown against Cal in 2022.
Former Stanford coach David Shaw and receiver Elijah Higgins celebrate after a touchdown against Cal in 2022. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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You could sing "one of these coaching candidates is not like the others" regarding the Bears coaching search.

One of them is not in coaching right now. Nor is he an announcer.

David Shaw once was a coach but since June has been senior personnel executive for the Denver Broncos front office. The Bears have sought permission to interview him, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.

Shaw might not sound like a qualified candidate based on his current title but anyone who once lost out on a coaching job to Bill Walsh probably needs to be taken seriously as a potential head coach.

Shaw is best known for being Stanford's head coach from 2011 to 2022. It was at Stanford where he lost out on the head coaching job but that was in 1992 to Walsh.

Shaw's Stanford teams were very competitive in his first eight years. He never had a losing record then, but finished with three losing seasons in four before resigning after a 3-9 record in 2022. He had a 96-54 record at Stanford, went to the Rose Bowl three times and won twice. His last winning Rose Bowl team in 2015 went 12-2.

Shaw, whose father was an NFL assistant for seven teams, wasn't always a college coach. He served as quality control coach for the Raiders and Eagles,and was a quarterbacks coach with the Raiders when Jon Gruden was head coach in 2001. He went to the Ravens from 2002-05 as a quarterbacks and receivers coach, then the Chargers for one year as receivers coach and passing game coordinator before going to Stanford as the offensive coordinator. He also coached running backs and receivers there before becoming head coach in 2011.

While at Stanford, Shaw was Pac-12 coach of the year four times and in 2017 was named national coach of the year.

GM George Paton named Shaw the Broncos senior personnel executive. The 1997 Eagles staff Shaw served on as a quality control coach early in his career had Broncos coach Sean Payton on it.

While at Stanford, Shaw briefly coached one very well known No. 1 overall draft pick: quarterback Andrew Luck.

The Bears will apparently not be the only team to talk with Shaw. NFL Network's Jane Slater reported the Saints will interview him.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.